House approves $93 billion jobless benefits package, By Lori Montgomery, May 28, 2010, Washington Post: “The House passed a $93 billion package of jobless benefits and business tax breaks Friday after moderate Democrats fed up with deficit spending forced leaders to slice billions of additional dollars from the legislation. The House voted, 215 to 204, to approve the measure, which would extend expanded benefits for the unemployed through November, finance thousands of summer jobs and renew for one year dozens of expired tax credits and deductions for businesses and individuals. The cost of those provisions would be partially covered by higher taxes on multinational corporations and investment fund managers, leaving about $31 billion to be added to the budget deficit…”

Formula could cost Phila.’s needy students free lunch, By Alfred Lubrano, May 23, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Thousands of poor Philadelphia students could face the loss of free lunch if a new method of calculating eligibility becomes federal law. Though the change could extend free lunch to students across America, it threatens a program unique to Philadelphia known as Universal Feeding, which allows more than 110,000 students in poor schools to eat free lunches without having to fill out applications. Children and their families in poor communities don’t always complete such forms, creating the potential for kids to go hungry. The suggested change could deny free lunches to as many as 51,182 students - 46 percent of the Philadelphia children who now receive those meals, said Michael Masch, chief business officer for the district…”

More Oregonians than ever are receiving food stamps, By Michelle Cole, May 15, 2010, The Oregonian: “More than 700,000 Oregonians received food stamps last month, which means nearly one in five people in the state are relying on government help to buy their meals. The numbers — the highest in the history of the program — are well above the national average and suggest that families are still struggling financially. Oregon’s high unemployment rate and a push to make the program accessible to all who qualify are driving the record enrollment. Managers at the state Department of Human Services say they do not see any sign of a decrease. Oregon officials first noted the surge in demand for food stamps in 2008, with Bend, Medford and rural counties recording early and substantial increases. More recently, families in the Portland metro area have been seeking help in greater numbers…”

Mobile banking closes poverty gap, By Jane Wakefield, May 28, 2010, BBC News: “Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people’s lives. Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone. As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched. Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families. M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years. Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya’s Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho…”

Millions face hunger in arid belt of Africa, By Jon Gambrell (AP), May 28, 2010, Modesto Bee: ” At this time of year, the Gadabeji Reserve should be refuge for the nomadic tribes who travel across a moonscape on the edge of the Sahara to graze their cattle. But the grass is meager after a drought killed off the last year’s crops. Now the cattle are too weak to stand and too skinny to sell, leaving the poor without any way to buy grain to feed their families. The threat of famine is again stalking the Sahel, a band of semiarid land stretching across Africa south of the Sahara. The U.N. World Food Program warned on Friday that some 10 million people face hunger over the next three months before the next harvest in September - if it comes…”

Heart attacks more likely among those with lower incomes, By Eva Ferguson, May 28, 2010, Calgary Herald: “Canadians living in lower income areas need to be better educated about preventive health care, eating right and exercising, particularly in the area of cardio health, experts say, after a national report showed heart attacks are more likely among Canadians with lower socio-economic status. The Canadian Institute for Health Information released its 11th annual Health Indicators report Thursday, concluding that Canadians living in low-income neighbourhoods have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, smoking and other cardiac risk factors. In 2008-09, almost 67,000 Canadians were hospitalized for a heart attack. After breaking down the Canadian population into five neighbourhood income levels, the report found that Canadians living in the least-affluent neighbourhoods were 37 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than those in the most affluent areas…”

Cellphones a tool in India’s fight against corruption, By Rick Westhead, May 24, 2010, Toronto Star: “In many remote corners of the developing world, cellphones have become a valuable tool to battle poverty. Farmers use them to get timely weather forecasts and tips about fertilizers. And when their fields are harvested, they rely on contacts in nearby markets to send SMS messages that help them decide where to take their produce for the best prices, cutting out greedy middlemen. Now, government officials in the central Indian state of Bihar hope the cellphone can tackle a new challenge: battling government corruption. In early 2009, officials with Bihar’s ministry of health told an international development agency of their concern that frontline health-care workers might bolt their jobs. Bihar has 72,000 accredited social health activists - volunteers who are paid commissions for ensuring children are born in hospitals and properly vaccinated. But the activists typically aren’t paid for months and, even then, only get a portion of their earnings because local managers demand kickbacks of as much as 40 per cent in exchange for their paycheques…”

‘Not acceptable:’ Nearly one-third of Oregon high school students drop out, By Betsy Hammond, May 25, 2010, The Oregonian: “Only two of every three students in Oregon’s class of 2009 graduated from high school in four years, while more than 14,000 dropped out along the way, the state education department reported Tuesday. State Superintendent Susan Castillo said she hopes the startlingly low success rate galvanizes Oregonians to provide — and demand that schools provide — more student support. She said she plans to shine a light on districts including Hillsboro and Tigard-Tualatin that, without extra funding, use systematic approaches to get standout results. ‘As a state, this is not acceptable, absolutely not, and we have got to have a coordinated effort on this,’ she said. ‘Whether you have kids or not, this matters to you. When students are not getting the education they need, we all pay the price.’ This year represented only the second time, and the first time that will count toward school performance ratings, that Oregon measured high school graduation rates in a new, more accurate way. Under the old method, which allowed thousands of teens who didn’t earn diplomas to slip away without being counted, Oregon would have posted an 85 percent graduation rate for the class of 2009. Federal rules will require all states to use the new method for the class of 2011. Oregon is ahead in making the switch, so state-by-state comparisons can’t be made yet…”

Thousands in Mass. could lose jobless aid next week, By Robert Gavin and Matt Viser, May 27, 2010, Boston Globe: “Nearly 100,000 Massachusetts residents would lose unemployment benefits by the end of July if Congress fails to extend an emergency program that has allowed laid-off workers to collect checks for up to almost two years, according to state labor officials. The program, enacted as part of last year’s stimulus bill, is set to expire Wednesday, and with concerns about the federal deficit mounting on Capitol Hill, it is unclear when Congress will act on a $145 billion spending bill that extends emergency benefits through November. If the emergency benefits expire, state officials said, unemployed Massachusetts workers would start losing benefits at the estimated rate of 10,000 a week, starting next week…”

• Economic segregation rising in US public schools, By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, May 27, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “More than 16,000 public schools struggle in the shadows of concentrated poverty. The portion of schools where at least three-quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals - a proxy for poverty - climbed from 12 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2008. The federal government released a statistical portrait of these schools Thursday as part of its annual Condition of Education report. When it comes to educational opportunities and achievement, the report shows a stark contrast between students in high-poverty and low-poverty schools (those where 25 percent or less are poor)…”
• Report: Percentage of high-poverty schools has risen; students face persistent challenges, By Christine Armario (AP), May 27, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “The percentage of public schools where more than three quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch - a key indicator of poverty - has increased in the past decade, and children at these schools are less likely to attend college or be taught by teachers with advanced degrees. The findings come from a special report on high poverty schools included in the 2010 Condition of Education study, which reports on a broad range of academic indicators across K-12 and higher education. The U.S. Department of Education report released Thursday found that the percent of high poverty schools rose from 12 to 17 percent between the 1999-2000 and 2007-2008 school years, even before the current recession was fully felt. By comparison, the overall poverty rate for children increased from 17 to 18 percent, leading researchers to believe that that a higher percentage of poor kids were signing up for the meal program. In all, there were 16,122 schools considered high poverty…”

Texas boosts child care subsidies, By Robert T. Garrett, May 25, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “While some states curtail low-wage workers’ subsidies for child care, Texas has avoided cuts, the Texas Workforce Commission said Monday. An infusion of $215 million in federal stimulus money since July has helped the state offer more child-care assistance, while the slow economy has knocked people out of work and slackened demand for child care, said commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens. The waiting list for aid was at about 14,000 children last month, down from an average of 33,000 per month in fiscal 2008…”

Study of health-care law rebuts state protests on Medicaid costs, By Alec MacGillis, May 26, 2010, Washington Post: “The federal government will bear virtually the entire cost of expanding Medicaid under the new health-care law, according to a comprehensive new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that directly rebuts the loud protests of governors warning about its impact on their strapped state budgets. About half of the increase in health insurance coverage under the new law is expected to come from expanding Medicaid in 2014 to a new nationwide eligibility threshold of 133 percent of the poverty level — $14,400 for a single adult or $29,300 for a family of four. A disproportionate share of the 16 million people expected to enroll in the expanded Medicaid live in states in the South and West that until now have had very stringent eligibility rules for low-income adults. Governors of many of those states have predicted fiscal calamity for their budgets, and some have cited the Medicaid expansion in the suits they have filed against the new law, saying it violates their states’ rights. But the Kaiser study released Wednesday predicts that the increase in state spending will be relatively small when weighed against the broad expansion of health coverage for their residents and the huge influx of federal dollars to cover most of the cost…”

Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate drops by 36.9 per cent, By Zosia Bielski, May 26, 2010, Globe and Mail: “Better access to contraception, higher quality sex education and shifting social norms have contributed to a 36.9 per cent decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate between 1996 to 2006, according to a report released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada. ‘This is a good news story,’ said Alexander McKay, lead author and research co-ordinator at the council. ‘It’s important to look at teen pregnancy rates because they’re a basic fundamental indicator of young women’s sexual and reproductive health. While not all teen pregnancies are a bad thing, when we see [rates] dropping, it’s a fairly clear indicator that young women are doing increasingly well in terms of controlling and protecting their reproductive health.’ The report, which appears in the current issue of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, compares Statistics Canada figures with numbers from three other countries. The United States experienced a 25 per cent drop while England and Wales showed a more modest decline of 4.75 per cent. Sweden’s numbers, meanwhile, jumped by 19.1 per cent…”

• State raises income standards for food stamp eligibility, By K.J. Williams, May 24, 2010, Wilmington Star-News: “North Carolinians should find it easier to get government help buying food starting July 1, when less stringent income rules take effect. The expected jump in eligible applicants could also swamp workers who process those applications, area social service directors say. The state’s federally funded Food and Nutrition Services program, commonly called food stamps, is currently available to applicants whose gross income is less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level. It will change to gross income less than 200 percent of the poverty level for applications in July. The change means the gross income limit will rise from $1,127 monthly for an individual to $1,805. For a family of four, it increases from $2,297 to $3,675…”
• Food stamps to meet more need in Minnesota, By Jean Hopfensperger, May 25, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “It’s a bustling morning at Woodbury Lutheran Church, as crowds of visitors head to the basement food shelf to pick up groceries — and to get screened for food stamps. The scene points to a new direction for the nonprofits that handed out 65 million pounds of donated groceries last year. After decades of asking the public to donate more and more food, leaders are convinced Minnesotans need a more permanent fix than monthly bags of groceries. Enter the food stamp program, ‘donated’ by the federal government and free to all who qualify. After lobbying by hunger relief organizations, the Legislature passed a law last week that expands the program to 70,000 more residents…”

From rats to heaters, doctor-lawyer team fights barriers to family health care, By Lena H. Sun, May 26, 2010, Washington Post: “Thirteen-year-old Haji Conteh had all the irritating symptoms of seasonal allergies when her father took her to see a pediatrician at a D.C. clinic last summer. But when the doctor questioned Haji and her father, she began to suspect there might be a cause other than pollen for the girl’s sneezing and itchy eyes: the rats and mold in the family’s Northwest Washington apartment. The pediatrician didn’t have the time or expertise to probe more deeply. But she did refer the family to a specialist– not another doctor, but a lawyer. The family is among 1,400 referred by doctors and others at Children’s National Medical Center to the Children’s Law Center. As part of a medical-legal partnership that began in 2002, lawyers work alongside doctors at four District clinics run by the hospital. Their shared goal is to overcome legal and social challenges that threaten the care of their patients — low-income children, predominantly African American, and virtually all covered by Medicaid…”

Budget cuts dilute children’s health coverage, By Richard Wolf, May 24, 2010, USA Today: “A federal law that President Obama signed early last year to expand health insurance to 4 million more low-income children has gotten off to a slow start because of budget problems in the states. The law makes more than $10 billion in federal aid available each year through 2013 but requires state funds as well. Faced with budget shortfalls, less than half the states have used it to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program, studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation, National Academy for State Health Policy and Georgetown University Center for Children and Families show. About 15 states scaled back coverage by increasing waiting periods, raising premiums or making signup more complicated, Kaiser’s study found. As a result, many states will leave federal money unspent, and the increase of 4 million children may not be reached, state officials and children’s health advocates say…”

Hawaii’s Medicaid switch produces mixed results, By Mary Vorsino, May 24, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “Fifteen months after the state switched its Medicaid insurance program for more than 42,000 low-income seniors and disabled residents from a fee-for-service model to a managed care one, advocates say two firms hired to administer the program have improved services and beefed up provider networks. But some point to cases involving patients who have seen cuts in care or who have struggled to navigate the Mainland-based plans because of language barriers or other reasons as continued areas of concern. New statistics on the Quest Expanded Access program illustrate that mixed bag. The numbers show both insurance companies - ‘Ohana Health Plan and Evercare - have decreased the average processing time for claims, from a high of 22 days to about 10, and increased the number of participating specialists…”

Millions of Medicaid kids don’t get medical exams, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), May 24, 2010, Miami Herald: “Almost three-quarters of children on Medicaid in nine states are not getting all of their legally required medical, vision and hearing examinations, including immunizations, according to a new government study. The study, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, estimated that 2.7 million of the 3.8 million children in those states, or 76 percent, did not receive one or more of the medical, vision or hearing screenings during 2007, the year studied. The studied states are Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia. Doctors say regular checkups are especially important for low-income children who are at higher risk for chronic problems including obesity, depression and poor cognitive development…”

Another fight over jobless benefits looms in Congress, By David Lightman and William Douglas, May 24, 2010, Miami Herald: “Congress is braced for a new, unpredictable battle this week over whether to fund more aid for jobless workers as an estimated 1.2 million people face having their benefits cut off next month unless lawmakers act. The debate, expected to begin Tuesday in the House of Representatives, will be the third time this year that these provisions have faced expired funding. In the first two instances, Congress initially balked, as some Republicans were upset that the funding wasn’t paid for with spending cuts. At one point in early April, Congress left for a 16-day spring recess without funding the benefits, leaving unemployed workers uncertain when they would get checks…”

Cuts to child care subsidy thwart more job seekers, By Peter S. Goodman, May 23, 2010, New York Times: “Able-bodied, outgoing and accustomed to working, Alexandria Wallace wants to earn a paycheck. But that requires someone to look after her 3-year-old daughter, and Ms. Wallace, a 22-year-old single mother, cannot afford child care. Last month, she lost her job as a hair stylist after her improvised network of baby sitters frequently failed her, forcing her to miss shifts. She qualifies for a state-run subsidized child care program. But like many other states, Arizona has slashed that program over the last year, relegating Ms. Wallace’s daughter, Alaya, to a waiting list of nearly 11,000 eligible children. Despite a substantial increase in federal support for subsidized child care, which has enabled some states to stave off cuts, others have trimmed support, and most have failed to keep pace with rising demand, according to poverty experts and federal officials. That has left swelling numbers of low-income families struggling to reconcile the demands of work and parenting, just as they confront one of the toughest job markets in decades…”

• Global death rates drop for children 5 or younger, By Denise Grady, May 23, 2010, New York Times: “Death rates in children under 5 are dropping in many countries at a surprisingly fast pace, according to a new report based on data from 187 countries from 1970 to 2010. Worldwide, 7.7 million children are expected to die this year - still an enormous number, but a vast improvement over the 1990 figure of 11.9 million. On average, death rates have dropped by about 2 percent a year from 1990 to 2010, and in many regions, even some of the poorest in Africa, the declines have started to accelerate, according to the report, which is being published online Sunday by The Lancet, a medical journal. Some parts of Latin America, north Africa and the Middle East have had declines as steep as 6 percent a year…”
• Study: fewer kids dying than previously thought, By Maria Cheng (AP), May 23, 2010, Washington Post: “Child deaths worldwide seem to have fallen faster than officials thought, as a new study estimates far fewer children are dying every year than previously guessed by the United Nations. Using more data and an improved modeling technique, scientists predicted about 7.7 million children under 5 would die this year, down from nearly 12 million in 1990. The study was published online Monday in the British medical journal, Lancet. The new estimate is substantially lower than UNICEF’s last estimate of child deaths from 2008. Then, the agency said about 8.7 million children were dying every year of preventable causes such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria…”

Too few dentists, too much pain in rural Wisconsin communities, By David Wahlberg, May 23, 2010, Wisconsin State Journal: “When Rob Homerding’s teeth started to crumble and ache, he tried to find a dentist who would take Medicaid. He and his wife called 20 dentists around Monroe, where they live, but no one would treat him. By the time he saw a dentist two years later, a dozen teeth had to be pulled. His daughter’s friends made fun of his gap-ridden mouth. He stopped smiling. ‘It probably wouldn’t have gotten this bad if I had found a dentist earlier,’ said Homerding, 38, a butcher in New Glarus. Dental care can be difficult to find in rural parts of Wisconsin and throughout the country - especially for people on Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor, and those with no insurance…”

Bill aims to expand benefits for the unemployed, By Stephen Ohlemacher (AP), May 20, 2010, Washington Post: “People who are out of work for long stretches would get expanded unemployment benefits through the end of the year under a bill Democratic lawmakers plan to pass next week. The bill would also extend, for a year, about 50 popular tax cuts that expired in January. The bill would be paid for, in part, by tax increases on investment managers and some U.S.-based multinational companies. House leaders said they plan to vote on the bill early next week, leaving just a few days for the Senate to act before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Memorial Day. House leaders had planned to vote this week, but they were still waiting for some cost estimates, and a few issues were unresolved…”

Study: To survive, family of four needs nearly $60,000, By Alfred Lubrano, May 20, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “To survive in Philadelphia without food stamps or other government assistance, a family of four needs to make nearly $60,000 a year - a hard-to-fathom ’sticker-shock’ number that shows how expensive life has become. According to a study being released Thursday, two adults with one preschooler and one school-age child have to take in $59,501 a year to live on a bare-bones budget in the city. In 2008, the same family of four needed $53,611 to make it in Philadelphia. That’s the word from the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Pennsylvania, a highly respected University of Washington analysis that comes out every two years. The problem is that nearly 62 percent of Philadelphia households take in less than $50,000 a year, according to census data analyzed by Dave Elesh, a sociologist at Temple University…”

Florida among first states to make attacks on homeless hate crimes, By Kate Santich, May 19, 2010, Orlando Sentinel: “For four years, Florida has been named the worst state in the nation for violence against the homeless. Now it’s one of the first states to enact a law making it a hate crime to attack a homeless person. Experts are divided on whether the newly passed legislation will serve as a deterrent, but there’s no question it will make for stiffer penalties. The law, signed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, will go into effect Oct. 1. It adds homeless people to an existing hate-crimes law that increases sentencing for attacks motivated by a victim’s race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, mental or physical disability or advanced age…”

• TN senators pass voter registration measure, but some fear a deterrent effect, By Lucas L. Johnson II (AP), May 11, 2010, The Tennessean: “People would be deterred from registering to vote if required to show proof of citizenship, say opponents of the proposal that passed the state Senate on Monday. Lawmakers spent more than two hours debating the measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Dewayne Bunch of Cleveland before approving it 20-12. It is different than the companion bill that passed the House 92-1 last week. That version would require prospective voters to check a box to affirm they are citizens…”
• Voter citizenship bill would violate federal law, TN attorney general says, By Chas Sisk, May 20, 2010, The Tennessean: “Legislation that requires new voters to show proof of citizenship when they register would violate a federal law meant to get more people to vote, the state attorney general said in an opinion released Wednesday. A voter-registration bill that has cleared the Senate would break the so-called Motor Voter Act, a 17-year-old law that requires states to let people register to vote at state agencies and by mail, Attorney General Robert Cooper said. But the bill does not necessarily violate the U.S. Constitution or the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the bedrock federal law aimed at eliminating discrimination at the polls, Cooper’s office said…”

Study: Uninsured don’t go to the ER more than insured, By Mary Brophy Marcus, May 20, 2010, USA Today: “A kiss gone awry isn’t the typical route that lands a person in the emergency room, but that’s just how Maggie Craytor ended up in the University of Virginia Medical Center’s emergency department in August. ‘She was running after her older brother Luke to give him a kiss, and she fell and got a cut right underneath her eye,’ says her mother, Allison. Maggie, now 4, needed two stitches. Her mother is glad the family had insurance to cover the costly emergency visit her pediatrician’s office recommended. The Craytors, a family of five with private health insurance, are just as likely to use the emergency room as people without insurance, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…”

Drawing the line at poverty, By Sarika Bansal, May 19, 2010, The Guardian: “I recently had the pleasure of meeting a construction worker named Lakshmi while taking a walk in Mumbai. She was on a much-needed break, and I was feeling chattier than usual. Lakshmi told me that she moved to Mumbai 10 years ago with her husband, and that they gave birth to two lovely children before he died last year. When he died, she could no longer afford rent for their single-room flat, and was soon after evicted. Today, she and her children live under a blue tarp tent with patchy electricity, no running water and few physical assets to their name. She earns Rs 120 (£1.80) every day she works at the construction site. Most of her wages are used to purchase groceries, with which she usually cooks thin rotis and watery lentils. Is Lakshmi’s family poor? According to the government of India, she is not. Since her income is technically sufficient to provide her family three meals a day, her household is above the nationally defined poverty line…”

Inspectors find fraud at centers for children, By Sam Dillon, May 18, 2010, New York Times: “Federal undercover investigators found workers at federally financed child care centers frequently misrepresenting information about applicants’ job status and earnings to fraudulently register ineligible children, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Tuesday. The investigators posed as parents or guardians of fictitious children and used bogus pay stubs and other documents to seek to register for day care services at Head Start centers, the report said. In 8 of 15 undercover tests, employees lied on federal forms about the applicants’ family income and other information to gain approval for the ineligible children, the report said…”

Florida lawmakers OK Medicaid pilot program extension, By Jeremy Cox, May 15, 2010, Florida Times-Union: “Just when it looked like the Medicaid experiment in Northeast Florida and one South Florida county was going to be expanded to 19 more counties or even statewide, the legislation fell apart. Now, as leading state lawmakers vow to push anew next year for a Medicaid overhaul, the pilot program that was the basis for last month’s legislative drama may get a second chance to prove its advocates right. After failing to reach a compromise on expansive changes to the government insurance program for the poor, the House and Senate quietly voted on the last day of the session to extend Medicaid reform…”

• Study says more students struggling with reading at end of pivotal third grade, By Michael Alison Chandler, May 18, 2010, Washington Post: “Nearly two-thirds of students in Virginia and Maryland do not read proficiently by the time they finish third grade, a pivotal milestone when material becomes more complex and children are more likely to slip behind, according to a national report released Tuesday. The report, ‘Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters’, highlights links between early literacy and high school graduation rates and future economic success…”
• Analysis ties 4th grade reading failure to poverty, By Debra Viadero, May 18, 2010, Education Week: “Eighty-five percent of poor 4th graders in predominantly low-income schools are failing to reach ‘proficient’ levels in reading on federal tests, according to a new study by a national foundation that is gearing up to lead a 10-year effort to raise 3rd graders’ reading proficiency. ‘The evidence is clear that those students who do not read well have a very tough time succeeding in school and graduating from high schools and going on to successful careers and lives,’ Ralph R. Smith, the executive vice president of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, said in an interview. ‘The Casey Foundation is putting a stake in the ground on grade-level reading by the end of the 3rd grade.’ The report, which is due to be released this morning, lays out the statistical case for the foundation’s soon-to-be-announced, 10-year initiative to ensure that more children become proficient readers by the time they leave 3rd grade…”

• Schwarzenegger’s budget is a blow to the poor, By Shane Goldmacher, May 15, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Proposing a budget that would eliminate the state’s welfare-to-work program and most child care for the poor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday outlined a stark vision of a California that would sharply limit aid to some of its poorest and neediest citizens. His $83.4-billion plan would also freeze funding for local schools, further cut state workers’ pay and take away 60% of state money for local mental health programs. State parks and higher education are among the few areas the governor’s proposal would spare. The proposal, which would not raise taxes, also relies on $3.4 billion in help from Washington — roughly half of what the governor sought earlier this year — to help close a budget gap now estimated at $19.1 billion. Billions more would be saved through accounting moves and fund shifts…”
• Schwarzenegger calls for cutting welfare-to-work, other programs in bleak California budget, By Steven Harmon, May 15, 2010, San Jose Mercury News: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday rolled out a blueprint for grim work this spring, calling on lawmakers to repair a $19.1 billion hole in the state budget largely by gutting safety net programs. Democrats insisted they will fight the most devastating proposals, such as eliminating the state’s welfare-to-work program, slashing in-home care for the disabled and elderly and cutting millions from the state’s insurance program for low-income children and pregnant women…”

KidsCare enrollment shrinking since signups frozen, By Ginger Rough, May 15, 2010, Arizona Republic: “The number of children participating in Arizona’s health-insurance program for working families has dropped dramatically since the state stopped allowing new enrollments in January, according to newly released figures. From Jan. 1 to May 1, enrollments in the KidsCare program plunged more than 26 percent, from 45,820 to 33,708. Much of the drop is due to normal attrition - from kids who age out of the program at 19 and parents who fail to make enrollment payments, don’t fill out paperwork or lose a job and thus eligibility. But some is because the state froze enrollment at the end of 2009. There are now more than 40,000 applicants on a waiting list for coverage…”

• Rudd government backs pay rise for 1.4m low-paid workers, By Ewin Hannan, May 18, 2010, The Australian: “Canberra is backing an above-inflation wage rise this year for the nation’s 1.4 million low-paid workers, prompting employers to warn they will be forced to shed jobs and cut hours if the position is backed by the wages umpire. As unions renewed their push for a $27-a-week increase in the minimum wage, the government said increases in minimum wages could allow low-paid workers to share in the benefits of economic growth, while ensuring jobs growth continued. Appearing before Fair Work Australia’s minimum wage panel, government advocate John Kovacic said the pay of low-income workers had ‘gone backwards’ as a result of last year’s minimum wage freeze…”
• Most sides support a rise in minimum wage after freeze, By Kirsty Needham, May 18, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald: “Eric Abetz, the opposition’s workplace spokesman, has joined the federal government and unions in supporting a rise in the minimum wage to make up for last year’s freeze. Unions and business groups are appearing this week before the Fair Work Australia tribunal, which will decide the first minimum wage case since taking over from the Howard-era Fair Pay Commission. Mr Abetz said yesterday there was a strong case for a catch-up rise, the line also being pushed by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. ‘Australian workers took to the task of assisting us through the global financial crisis. Now that we’re coming through I think it makes sense to have a catch-up,’ he said…”

High lead levels hurt learning for DPS kids, By Tina Lam and Kristi Tanner-White, May 16, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “More than half of the students tested in Detroit Public Schools have a history of lead poisoning, which affects brain function for life, according to data compiled by city health and education officials. The data also show, for the first time in Detroit, a link between higher lead levels and poor academic performance. About 60% of DPS students who performed below their grade level on 2008 standardized tests had elevated lead levels. The higher the lead levels, the lower the MEAP scores, though other factors also may play a role. The research — the result of an unusual collaboration between the city’s Department of Health & Wellness Promotion and DPS — also reveals that children receiving special education were more likely to have lead poisoning…”

• A rich new poverty measure, By Nancy Folbre, May 10, 2010, New York Times: “The Census Bureau recently announced plans to develop a new Supplemental Poverty Measure (S.P.M.), also referred to as a Supplemental Income Poverty Measure (SIPM). If you want to remember the acronym, imagine a phone app that allows you to sip virtual coffee that increases your alertness to technical issues of poverty measurement. Poverty researchers like me will not require this imaginary app, as we are already overexcited. Most of us dislike the official poverty lines used to determine who, exactly, qualifies as poor. Most of us can recite at least five reasons why these measures (based on a mid-1960s assessment of the costs of a minimal food budget) are narrow, out of date and downright misleading. Most of us can also expound on how current methods of measuring poverty make it difficult, if not impossible, to accurately assess the impact of anti-poverty policies. Food assistance administered through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) has been a mainstay of our safety net during the current recession. But since food stamps are not income, they don’t show up in our income-based poverty measures. The Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) is our largest cash-assistance program other than unemployment insurance in this recession. Our poverty measures are based on pre-tax, rather than after-tax, income. So, by definition, the E.I.T.C. does not reduce poverty. It’s hard to find anyone more passionate about these inconsistencies than Professor Timothy Smeeding, current director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. He wrote his doctoral dissertation in 1975 on the importance of developing measures of post-benefit, post-tax income to better inform public policy…”
• Reaction mixed on proposed poverty measure, By Cheryl Wetzstein, May 14, 2010, Washington Times: “The Census Bureau’s formal release of an alternative way to measure poverty in the United States is 16 months away, but the rumblings of unease can already be heard about the politically sensitive indicator. The bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), which will be released September 2011, is ‘a bogus and dishonest propaganda device,’ Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told a Brookings Institution briefing recently. ‘It’s a Trojan horse,’ introduced under the name of poverty, but designed to find endless ‘income inequality’ that must be fixed with even more spending on anti-poverty programs, Mr. Rector said. The government will spend $900 billion on means-tested aid to poor and low-income persons this year alone, he added. Policy experts have been working for at least 15 years on a new poverty standard to supplement - or eventually replace - the measure that has been used since the 1960s, a measure that many critics say does not reflect contemporary realities and needs. The problem: some experts think the current measure overstates the number of poor Americans, while another group argues it vastly understates the number…”

Researchers trying to track third world infections in U.S., By Joseph Brownstein, May 14, 2010, ABC News: “Researchers and legislators are trying to determine just how far some obscure but deadly third world diseases have penetrated into the United States. Studies in recent years have shown that diseases typically confined to less-developed countries have entered the United States, coming over the border or arising in places where conditions abruptly changed, like post-Katrina Louisiana. But poverty and a lack of access to healthcare have made it hard to determine how severe the problem might be. ‘The poverty in the U.S. tends to concentrate in certain pockets,’ said Dr. Peter Hotez, chair of the department of microbiology, immunology and tropical medicine at George Washington University Medical Center. He cited the Mississippi delta, post-Katrina Louisiana, the border region with Mexico and U.S. inner cities: ‘Those particular areas, for all practical purposes, resemble a developing country…’”

More Texas youths placed in foster care, By Robert T. Garrett, May 13, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Texas’ foster care rolls have surged, outstripping expectations by more than 1,000 youngsters this year, Child Protective Services officials said Thursday. State child welfare authorities attributed the surge in part to strains on families caused by the recession. They also noted that CPS workers are more inclined to remove children from homes, after a rash of high-profile child deaths and as workers and state district judges got used to a federal appeals court’s 2008 edict tightening child-removal procedures in Texas…”

Funding uncertainty takes toll on state’s poorest residents, By Madeleine Baran, May 12, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: ” Robert Fischer started out last year with big plans to improve his health, find a job, and get off welfare. But the Minneapolis resident decided to put those plans on hold when Gov. Tim Pawlenty began to propose deep cuts in assistance programs for poor people. Like dozens of other Minnesotans living in poverty, Fischer threw himself into organizing against the cuts, holding meetings at homeless shelters, speaking with legislators, and educating himself on public policy. For Fischer, there was a lot at stake. He faced losing his medical coverage when Pawlenty removed funding for General Assistance Medical Care last year. In February, he learned that the governor wanted to eliminate his only source of income — $203 a month from a program called General Assistance…”

Indiana, IBM trade suits over welfare contract, Associated Press, May 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “Indiana and its former partner in welfare privatization, International Business Machines Corp., sued each other Thursday over the technology giant’s canceled 10-year, $1.37 billion contract to automate the state’s intake for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits. Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts in Indianapolis. In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover the $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties, and state employee overtime that it incurs as a result of its association with the Armonk, N.Y., company. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion, as it is entitled to do under state law. It accused IBM of intentionally denying benefits to clients to make its performance appear better and giving the state agency false and misleading information…”

Hospitals care for hundreds of Medicaid patients per year others won’t take, By Michael J. Berens, May 11, 2010, Seattle Times: “There are no bars on her window or locks on the door, yet Jeri Ringseth considers herself a prisoner. On Nov. 4, she was admitted to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma with a diabetic blood-sugar imbalance, a life-threatening condition that over the years has caused both her legs to be amputated. She was well enough within days for release to a nursing home. Instead, she had to wait, and as of Tuesday - after 189 days at St. Joseph - she still waits. ‘Nobody wants me anymore,’ she says. Ringseth, 41, is a low-income patient who suffers from chronic disabilities. She’s too sick to care for herself and not well-off enough to pay for a private nursing home or other facility. She’s one of hundreds of Medicaid patients in Washington state each year who - despite no longer needing hospitalization - have occupied hospital rooms for a month or longer while trying to find a nursing home or other facility to take them in. A Seattle Times investigation has found at least 2,025 such cases from 2000 to 2008. Overall price tag: $461 million. Although written off as charity care, those costs are passed on to those who do pay for their care, according to the Washington State Hospital Association…”

• Schwarzenegger’s revised budget plan is expected to eliminate health programs, By Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper, May 12, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to present a revised budget plan Friday that would dismantle some of California’s landmark healthcare programs after efforts to scale them back have been reversed by federal courts. The rulings, issued mostly over the last two years, have already forced the state to unwind roughly $2.4 billion in cuts approved by the governor and Legislature and have alarmed other financially strapped states seeking ways to balance their budgets…”
• Pawlenty vetoes health bill, By Warren Wolfe and Rachel Stassen-Berger, May 13, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a major health and human services spending bill Thursday, just hours after it cleared the House and Senate in a late-night session, but then hinted to reporters that he might be open to negotiations. ‘It is a bill I think we could potentially find some compromise on, and potentially sign into law,’ Pawlenty said. DFL legislators had expected the veto because, although the bill cuts $114 million from current spending in state programs, it also provides health insurance for about 82,000 poor childless adults through the state-federal Medicaid program — a shift the governor opposes. The timing of the Wednesday night votes ensured that lawmakers would have time to attempt a veto override or seek a compromise with the governor…”

Late-day meals fill empty bellies, By Lisa Rathke (AP), May 10, 2010, Boston Globe: “While the other preschoolers were warming up to the vegetable pesto lasagna, Avery Bennett dived in with no hesitation. ‘Can I have some more lasagna?’ the 3-year-old said from her booster seat. ‘I love it.’ She moved on to her seconds, and the other children at the evening-care program were also chomping down on the dish made of spinach, peppers, carrots, tomato, fresh basil, and cheese. More low-income schoolchildren could soon have access to free nutritious dinners like the lasagna that Avery loved. A US Department of Agriculture program in Vermont, 12 other states, and the District of Columbia provides reimbursements for the suppers, served at after-school programs for at-risk children in communities where at least 50 percent of households fall below the poverty level…”

Young and pregnant, but not alone, By Maura Lerner, May 13, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “At 17, Camia Carruthers is expecting her first child next week. But she’s not going it alone. She has the support of her parents, her boyfriend and Jeanne Kumlin, a nurse who makes weekly house calls. For years, the Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency has been sending nurses like Kumlin to check on pregnant teenagers throughout Hennepin County and offer nutritional advice, parenting tips, and even free cribs and clothing. Now, a new study shows those visits have paid off. The study, conducted by Wilder Research and released Wednesday, found that teenagers in the visiting nurse program were more likely to carry their babies to term, and give birth to healthy babies, than other pregnant teens in the Twin Cities…”

Weatherization program finally takes off, By Tracy Idell Hamilton, May 12, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Patricia Teran remembers the moment she realized just how well the new insulation in her home was working. ‘I went to let my dog out in the middle of the night, and when I opened the door, I realized it was really cold out there,’ she said. ‘It was nice and warm in my house, and my heater wasn’t even on.’ Teran, 62, is one of the first local beneficiaries of the Obama administration’s $5 billion weatherization program, which aims to help low-income residents to seal up their homes, lower bills and save energy. It also is supposed to create thousands of jobs in the nascent ‘green energy’ industry. The program, a centerpiece of the administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has faced rising criticism as more than a year of bureaucratic delays saw only a fraction of homes completed and few jobs created. But in Texas, at least, the program finally is taking off…”

Program to combat asthma would lean on landlords, By Javier C. Hernandez, May 11, 2010, New York Times: “For decades, public health experts have tried - and mostly failed - to contain an asthma epidemic that afflicts many New Yorkers living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But now, the City Council hopes to significantly curtail the spread of the lung disease by forcing landlords at some of the most badly maintained buildings to clean up their premises. Under legislation to be introduced on Wednesday, the Council would require owners of 175 apartment buildings to take steps to eliminate garbage, mold and vermin - all factors that have been linked to asthma. If they do not comply, the city would file liens against the properties, effectively billing landlords for the work required…”

India, despite poor health care, sees drop in maternal mortality, By Mian Ridge, May 11, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “It is rare good news for poor women in India. A new report has found a significant drop in the rate at which women across the world die as a result of childbirth - with one of the most dramatic falls in India. Maternal deaths in India decreased from 677 per 100,000 live births in 1980 to 254 in 2008, according to a study published in the Lancet, a leading British medical journal, in April. This contributed to a global fall of 35 percent to 251 per 100,000 live births, found a research team led by Christopher Murray at the University of Washington…”

South Africa AIDS orphans overwhelm social work services, By Scott Baldauf, May 10, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “Lora Doman sees more human drama, suffering, and courage in a single morning than most South Africans ever see. Ms. Doman is not a nun, or a saint. She is one of South Africa’s 12,000 social workers, a front-line soldier in a battle to hold her country together, one family at a time, several families a day, ensuring that abused, neglected, or orphaned children have a home. It’s a monstrous task in a country where an estimated 5.5 million people - roughly 18 percent of the population - are believed to be infected with the HIV virus.The AIDS epidemic not only kills millions of South Africans, it also orphans children. A United Nations and World Health Organization report last year estimated that as of 2007 there were 1.4 million South African AIDS orphans - a tripling of the number estimated in 2001, and the largest concentration in the world. For homes, many of these AIDS orphans must turn to their extended families - many of whom are already living in poverty - and to overwhelmed orphanages and shelters for survival…”

• Indiana ‘hybrid’ welfare program set to expand, By Niki Kelly, May 11, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday the next region for its new ‘hybrid’ welfare eligibility system is an 11-county area that includes Vigo, Parke and Monroe counties. The expansion is dependent on federal approval. FSSA on Monday released statistics showing that adding more local welfare workers in 10 southwestern Indiana counties under a pilot hybrid system has cut the problems that clients have had with Indiana’s privatized, automated benefits system…”
• Officials: Changes in welfare cut complaints, By Mary Beth Schneider, May 11, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Armed with evidence that the changes made to welfare delivery in a 10-county pilot project are working, the state will announce today whether it will expand the program to more areas of Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug on a $1.34 billion IBM contract for a centralized welfare intake system in October. The Family and Social Services Administration replaced it with a hybrid program, combining modernization and computerization of records with the face-to-face contact between caseworkers and clients that was the hallmark of past welfare systems…”

• Legislators seek to expand Medicaid, By Warren Wolfe, May 10, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Legislative conferees agreed Sunday that expanding Medicaid should be part of the eventual compromise they will take to the House and Senate as early as Monday in a package of health and human service measures to cut the state’s budget deficit. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has strongly opposed expanding Medicaid to cover health care for childless adults earning less than 75 percent of the poverty guideline. Even though it would bring in about $1 billion in federal money over the next three years, he argues that the state cannot afford to provide the required $1 billion match…”
• Nurses, doctors, hospitals urge shift to Medicaid, By Warren Wolfe, May 11, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Leaders of the state’s hospital, nurse and doctors’ associations added their voices to a health care debate between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and DFL legislators Monday, urging the state to cover its poorest residents with the state-federal Medicaid health program rather than a slimmed-down state plan negotiated last month. With a week to go before the Legislature is to adjourn, the groups urged enactment of a bill supported by DFL leaders and opposed by Pawlenty that would shift about 37,000 patients from General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) to Medicaid, called Medical Assistance (MA) in Minnesota…”